The Glynn-Brunswick Land Bank Authority is moving ahead with forgiving part of the property taxes owed on a historic home in the city’s downtown without the cooperation of the Glynn County School Board.
The land bank wanted to forgive the taxes to pave the way for a preservation effort. At the land bank’s last meeting, City Planning, Development and Codes Director John Hunter said the city already had a buyer lined up who was interested in restoring the old building.
“The property was donated to the city five or six years ago, but there were unpaid property taxes that we needed to extinguish,” Hunter said at the March meeting.
Both the city and county agreed to forgive $10,382.68 of the tax bill, the part that’s owed to the two governments. Recently, the school board voted 6-1 against forgiving its portion of the taxes. Hunter said the school board’s portion was around $3,300.
“I think the message there was they are not in the business of forgiving taxes,” City Attorney Brian Corry told the land bank’s board of directors.
Felicia Harris and Julie Martin represent the city commission on the land bank, Allen Booker and Walter Rafolski represent the Glynn County Commission and Jill Wright and Cecelia Patterson are citizens representatives from the city and county, respectively, and Audrey Gibbons represents the Glynn County Board of Education.
On Tuesday, the board discussed forgiving taxes owed on a parcel 1315 Union St. Gibbons, Patterson and Rafolski were not present. Harris said Gibbons was the sole voice on the school board in support of the tax forgiveness request.
Giving the school board the benefit of the doubt, Don Myers, a candidate to replace Patterson, said he spoke with some members of the school board and believes most of the board members weren’t aware of the details of what the land bank was asking for, or the purpose of the land bank itself.
A presentation was given to school board Chairwoman Eaddy Sams, Harris noted, but not to the full board. Harris said the land bank offered to make the presentation to the full board but wasn’t taken up on it.
Myers said that may be an indication that nobody but Sams and Gibbons, two of the seven members of the board, knew the details of the land bank’s request. The land bank’s purpose is to redevelop blighted land and derelict structures or sell it to someone who will redevelop it.
Wright noted that the school board’s letter of rejection sounded final, but Harris said she wouldn’t be discouraged by the lack of cooperation on this one property.
“We’re not going to let one decision stop us from moving forward and doing what we need to do,” Harris said.
After the meeting, she told The News that she planned to meet with school board members to explain to them how the land bank benefits the entire Golden Isles community, not just the city or county governments.
The land bank voted 4-0 to send a resolution to the tax commissioner asking for the taxes to be forgiven anyway.
Several proposals have been made involving demolishing the structure at 1315 Union St., but all were denied by the city due to the home’s value to the historic district.
The design came from architect George Barber, who created mail-order books of house plans that were used across the country. Brunswick is home to three Barber designs. This particular house dates back to the 1890s, Hunter said.
Area resident Tony Ross approached the city with a proposal to renovate the structure, he said. The city approved moving forward with a purchase agreement last month. It’s not final, but Hunter said the city hopes to see it through to fruition.
In other business, the board discussed a job description for a land bank programs director and establishing new policies and procedures.
The land bank’s next meeting is on July 11 at 4 p.m. in City Hall.
